1) Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to locking devices and more particularly to a locking device for a faucet to prevent flow of water through the faucet.
2) Description of Related Art
The use of water faucets has long been known in conjunction with any kind of a building structure such as an office building, apartment house or individual residence. A typical water faucet includes a manually operated valve which is capable of being open and when open water is caused to flow through the valve and through a spout into the ambient. Normally, these faucets can be operated by anyone.
In some areas of the world, water is a valuable commodity. For example, some areas of the United States have severe restrictions as to the amount of water that can be used by a residence, apartment or place of business. If usage exceeds a certain preset level, the cost for water usage substantially increases and may include a penalty. If excessive usage continues, an individual's water can actually be turned off for a period of time.
In almost every building, apartment and house there are water faucets that are readily available to be used by anyone who has access to the exterior of the structure. In these areas of water usage restriction, a person may take a hose, connect it to somebody else's faucet and then use that water for some purpose such as washing a vehicle, filling containers that can then be used to water plants, etc. There is a need to affix some device to a water faucet that will prevent the operation of that faucet except by the authorized individual or individuals.
Previously, there have been devices constructed to provide a closure for a fluid conduit. Reference is to be had to U.S. Pat. No. 1,656,318, inventor Costello, which shows such a closure for a fluid conduit. In this patent, there is required the addition of a special attachment to the end of the fluid conduit prior to the installation of the cap which closes the fluid conduit. The same is also true for a device defined within U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,458, inventor Holdsworth, et al. The present invention does not require the use of any additional item that is to be attached to the fluid conduit prior to the installation of the device to close off the conduit.
There is also known within the prior art to use locking devices to prevent unauthorized removal of a garden hose from a faucet. Typical such devices are shown within U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,858, inventor Parker and U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,717, inventor Eaton.